George Lester Jackson (23 September 1941-21 August 1971) was an African-American black nationalist activist and the co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family.
Biography[]
George Lester Jackson was born in Chicago, Illinois on 23 September 1941, and he was convicted of armed robbery in 1961 and was sentenced to indefinite imprisonment. During his time at San Quentin State Prison, he became involved in revolutionary activity, becoming a Marxist and Maoist in 1966 and co-founding the Black Guerrilla Family that same year. In January 1969, he was transferred to Soledad prison, and, on 13 January 1970, he and two other prisoners were charged with murdering a prison guard. That same year, he authored the book Soledad Brother to describe his time in prison and rally the black nationalist cause. On 7 August, his brother Jonathan P. Jackson and freed prisoners James McClain, William A. Christmas, and Ruchell Magee stormed the Marin County courthouse and took the judge Harold Haley and several others hostage and demanded the release of the "Soledad Brothers" from prison. Jackson, Christmas, McClain, and Haley were killed in the ensuing shootout. On 21 August 1971, Jackson escaped from prison with a concealed gun, and he took hostages; he ultimately executed three corrections officers and two white prisoners before escaping to the yard and being shot from the prison tower.